


The Monster behind the Ruins

by Minioma



Series: Fallout 4: Elizabeth Martin [1]
Category: Fallout 4
Genre: Character Development
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-30
Updated: 2020-04-30
Packaged: 2021-03-01 23:21:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,077
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23925286
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Minioma/pseuds/Minioma
Summary: “I see… Deep under the water, deep inside the stomach of metal… You will find him. A ghost from the past. The one who ruined it all. The one who took it all away from you. The one to hate, but not to blame.”(A short improved quest story.)
Series: Fallout 4: Elizabeth Martin [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1972639
Kudos: 3





	The Monster behind the Ruins

Yangtze-31 floated serenely under the surface. Hidden from curious eyes, only the top and camouflaged all-seeing periscope was visible. Deep within the giant war machine the old undead in a groomed uniform was going through the plans and writings over tenth time, just to make sure everything was alright and not a single error has been missed. The chance has been given to him and he was not going to ruin it. Yangtze has not been in motion for years, always at ease and only once in a while being harassed by raiders who attempted to chop her down for scraps. However now when she finally got the chance to swim again, her captain made sure every detail that could ruin it all would be noted and fixed. Last thing the old undead wanted was to let his beloved ship sink to the bottom of the sea after maintaining itself for such long period of time. If this submarine was heading somewhere, it would only be back home with him.

A metallic creak and clanking against bars broke captain’s focus. Someone has entered the submarine. By the sound of it, more than one person, maybe two, and they were walking down the stairs. The captain cursed to himself. He was so distracted he forgot to do the checkup through periscope. He had no idea who the intruders were. Swiftly he moved behind a cover and pulled his gun, pointing it at the door. Another metallic creak was hear and the captain shouted.

“ _Tíngzhǐ_!”

“Whoa there, captain! It’s just us!” said a female voice.

Once the captain took another look, he lowered his weapon when he recognized the two women at the door: One white in red coat and hat that had a note saying “Press” attached to it, the other tan with skintight and bright blue pants.

“Geez Zao, thought you’d be more welcoming the next time we come here”, said the woman in red. Pi-pe, or Pi-rer, if the memory of old man served well.

“Oh, _Bàoqiàn_. I did not see you come. Thought you are raiders. Welcome back”, the captain said with a warm tone, happy to see the people he was eager to see again. Quickly though his voice changed into more serious with a little hint of desperate hopefulness. “You got the dampening coil? Easy to get, I hope.”

“Sure did”, the other woman, ‘Lizabet probably, said.

The tanned woman took off her backpack and searched its containment, until she handed over a familiar metallic and heavy object with her both hands.

“Here you go, Captain. Things got a little heated up, but we got your coil.”

“Ah! Good, Good! _Zuò dé hao!_ ” the old captain replied as happily as his rash voice allowed him to sound as he took the object, studying it thoroughly saying all kind of nonsense in his native Chinese. “No _xiù_ , no _lièwén_. _Wánměi_!”

“We also brought you something to eat”, the tanned woman said once the captain had cooled of a little, handing over an old, rusty lunchbox. “Though you might be hungry, being here on guard all this time. I don’t know how much you ghouls need but hopefully this is enough for a decent meal.”

The said old ghoul turned his attention to the thoughtful woman, who was smiling at him so warmly. Despite being American, or Latino-American by the looks of it and little knowledge he had, her kind-hearted gesture fully struck him.

“ _Wa!_ So kind. _Xie xie_ , friend”, he said returning the smile, something he hasn’t done in almost two hundred years. “You did good. I have the coil, the… uh… _Liángshí_ … supply… All almost ready. My Yangtze soon sail again. I get back. To my home”, Captain Zao said, almost dreamily as he remembered his country he had almost forgotten completely, wondering how it must look like nowadays.

“Speaking of which…” the red coated woman asked. “How are you going to fuel this beauty?"

"Ah, for that I have an idea. Come. I show", the ghoul said eagerly, waving his palm to make the others follow to his desk.

Both women looked dumbfounded when they studied the blueprints and papers. They had a few pictures of submarine and what looked like inside illustrations of a bullet. Rest of the papers were covered with what looked like a bird’s footprints, hopping around trying to form words.

Zao soon guessed his guest had no knowledge of Chinese so he translated the best he could with his limited English.

“Yangtze had many missiles. All of them launched. All but one. The warhead on that missile has the fuel I need for Yangtze.”

“Missiles? What missiles?” ‘Lizabet asked.

“Ah. High-yield nuclear missiles. Very powerful. Very dangerous”, Zao explained empathizing the last words with care.

“Come on Blue, look at this place”, Pipe noted to another woman. “This is a submarine that’s build for warfare. You honestly didn’t realize it has some real firepower in it?”

“Of course I did! I just… How powerful are they, exactly? Enough to destroy a building, perhaps?” she asked Zao, sounding very questioning.

“A building! Hah!” the captain laughed almost insulted of the undervalue she was giving to his war machine. “One missile is enough to destroy a town. _Quyu_! Um… area, region”, after that declaration the ghoul became very hesitant and sad. “Very much fire was brought, just as ordered.”

“And… When were these missiles launched, exactly?” she asked Zao.

“I can’t know exactly the right years but… Maybe two hundred years. Maybe a little more. But the last missile should still work. Is not useless and old yet.”

“Fire?” the woman asked, looking very worried and pondering, keeping her gaze down tracing it as if she was in her very deep thought. Or simply looking over some invisible and very fast ship rat.

The captain was not sure how to respond, so he continued to tell about his plan, just to change the subject he wasn’t too comfortable to talk about.

“The missile is located under the deck. Once I have it, I will take the warhead…”

“You…” ‘Lizabet sounded very shocked as she spoke. This caught the attention of everyone who was present in the room and they all looked at her puzzled. “You were the one that fired all those missiles and ruined this place? This whole country?”

The woman looked stumped. In disbelieve. Angry.

The captain did not answer right away. He needed some time to pick the right words, for an apology.

“Yes. This place was destroyed by me. I feel sorry for doing so. _Hen as kui_.”

“Sorry? And that’s all?!” the woman asked, an odd sound of being insulted in her voice.

“Hold on, Blue”, Pipe interrupted, standing between the two of them. “Sorry Zao, she… she had it quite rough. Takes it a little more personally.”

“Personally? Ah, I see. Surviving here is hard, I know”, captain explained sympathetically. “I know because I lived the past. But, it wasn’t so great then ether. Had to survive too. Only then it was more, _meilì_ … um… good-looking. Not so different. No need for anger. Old world not so great. Did not lose anything.”

“There, you see, Elizabeth, it’s not a big deal, right?” Pipe reassured, but the damage had already been done.

“Not a big deal?!” Elizabeth roared.

With one hard push the red-coated woman was tossed aside and after another the captain hit the floor, hurting his back and head, making stars glimmer across his vision. Once he came to, his eyes widened when he was face to face with a tip of a pistol.

“Elizabeth, what are you doing!”

“Don’t, Piper!” the woman warned harshly, still pointing her gun at the defenseless ghoul, eyes locked like a predator. “This man… so friendly, so welcoming, in need of help and need to go home. And we were so willing to help, even when we were but strangers to him”, she listed sounding like a nice, polite lady, filled with spite, until her tone became much harsher. “And all this time we were helping _a murderer_. No. Not helping. _Tricked_ to help.”

“Why so angry? Why so much hate?” Zao asked, sounding very frightened at this woman’s sudden change and her ever increasing spitefulness towards him, for nothing. “You did not see it! You weren't there!”

“I WAS!” she yelled interrupting him. This stumped the captain even more and made him more petrified as she continued with dead cold voice. “I saw it. The explosion. It destroyed my home. YOU destroyed my home. You caused my family to be gone. My husband murdered. My child taken away. You… you ruined my life. You and your bombs send me to this _el infierno en la tierra_ ”. The quiet rage took over her language just to emphasize stronger her meaning. Grinding her teeth she stared at the captain with murderous eyes, her finger moving to the trigger. “A killer like you does not deserve to walk free with a crime like that. Wait! No. Not a killer? _A monster_.”

“Blue, stop! Don’t kill him!” Piper said, not daring to come close in case if she triggers her friend to shoot.

“Why not?! He’s the one responsible for making you all live in this shithole! He’s the one that makes you struggle and kill each other for every scrap you manage to find. Living among monsters and raiders, you think that’s fun? Fearing that your every day may be the last, whether it’ll end by a bullet, teeth or sickness. You better give me a fucking good reason to spare this filthy murderer, Piper!”

“Blue, Elizabeth, just listen to me. He's not the murderer”, she explained in a calming voice, keeping the distance. “He had no way of knowing or saying.”

“He should know! No man can be blind to killing hundreds. Thousands!”

“He’s nothing but a captain. Made to follow orders. It wasn’t his choice to kill. It was his superiors that told him to launch those nuke missiles. They are the real killers. Zao was just a trigger. Nothing but a tool.”

The red-coated woman’s words seemed to come across her wrathful friend as her breathing softened. The hate was still present though.

“Please, Elizabeth. If you kill him, it won’t do any good. You’ll just be left with quilt of killing an innocent man.”

“But… he’s not inn… inn…” the word got stuck in Elizabeth’s mouth. She was unwilling to say out loud the word she could not describe her victim, but was unable to maintain her anger ether.

“Yes, he is. And you don’t kill innocent. It’s alright, Elizabeth. You’re not going to hurt anyone. You are not like that.”

A soft hand rested itself on Elizabeth’s tense arm. When she did nothing, next she no longer felt the metallic handle in her palm and she was holding on to nothing but air.

“It’s okay. It was horrible, and it still is”, Piper calmed her down. “This place isn’t suited for you ether. But… you don’t have to make it worse.”

The tanned woman was defeated, but she could not bring herself to let it be seen. She was shaking, boiling, as well as slightly weeping in heavy breaths. The anger was still flaming, and the bitter sadness of not being able to extinguish it was stabbing her from the inside. And it hurt very badly.

A sound of cocking a gun was heard. The painful feeling was left on a hold when the captain, now up to his feet, pointed his pistol at the one who threatened him a moment ago. However, unlike Elizabeth, Zao had no anger, no hate towards his opponent, only pity and regret.

“I am sorry. I did not indeed ruin it all. And I feel quilt. _Yi han_. All these two hundred years. All this time lived with shame. To you it’s great _bu xing_. I am very sorry. _Wo wei ni de sunshi gandao baoqian_ ”, he told, very sincerity and with no hint of lying. “But, you must leave my _qianting_. Now. No more hate, no _tong qu_.”

“But, what about your submarine? Doesn’t it need to be repaired?” Piper asked.

“I have all that I need!” captain Zao said, now with more impatience. “You helped enough. Go. I need no more help. Go!” he commanded, pointing with his gaze at the door.

It did not take any convincing and soon the captain Zao was all alone once again, after losing his only good guests he had after 200 years of cold solitude. Good guests, as well as friends, he had to apart with on a bitter note.

Half way to the dock a small old boat slowed down. Piper paced down her rowing as she looked at her traveling companion, who hung her head low, sitting restlessly with her hands crossed. It was hard to know whether she was still angry, or if any other emotion, sadness, regret or share blandness had taken over her instead.

“Come on, Blue. It’s alright”, Piper said trying to cheer Elizabeth up, using the nickname she gave her just to be more lighthearted. “Really, it’s not that bad. You went through Hell but you came through it alive anyways. One thing that those nukes did not destroy. Aside from roaches, that is.”

“Don’t sugarcoat it, Piper. You weren't there”, Elizabeth said, her tone sounding very cold but reasoned. “You heard the stories, but never experienced yourself. You can’t imagine what it was like based on what you know. It wasn’t just a relaxing evening at the bar surrounded by safe wall. Back then there was no need for a wall. And you really didn't see it all happen and get destroyed. To you it just sounds like losing another settlement or village. To me, it was losing a whole world. And yes, it was hard then too, but not deadly. And all my family”, once she mentioned that, she became very sad and miserable. “Mother, father, sister, grandparents… Even those idiot brothers of Nate… Nate. Shaun…” the painful and closest memory to Elizabeth pressed onto her chest which silenced the woman for a moment. “All I had, all I was, lost. All alone.”

“Blue, what does your family say? Remember, don't dwell. I think it holds a lot of value, especially nowadays”, the reporter said wisely. “Besides, you got me by your side, and Nick too. And what about those freaks from Goodneighbor? Heard you made quite big differences to those guys. Are you saying all of us don’t count as at least close friends that are basically, well, like a family. At least by our point of view, that’s how it is.”

Elizabeth did not respond at all. Not negatively, nor positively. There was some truth though, it could had been just something better and comforting.

As they got to the docks a happy German Shepheard ran to the two women. With a few quick licks it greeted the reporter, then turned its all focus on its master. The dog stopped its tail-wagging and gave out a soft whine as it looked worryingly at the low-spirited woman. The amount of comfort it was giving by nuzzling and licking her hand did not seem to help, and that made the noble dog even more worried.

“You’re back!” yelled a voice of approaching young boy who enthusiastically shook with his fists to his chest, ready to hear the exiting news. “Well, did you fight it? I didn’t hear anything.”

“Hold on to your horses there, Donny”, Piper said, calming the boy down with her hand gestures. “It’s alright, we took care of the business.”  
“So how was it? Did the sea monster have big teeth? Was there more eyes underwater? Did you kill it? Was there a lot of blood and guts? Did it stink bad?”

“Well, it wasn’t actually a sea monster. Just an old submarine. A boat that swims underwater. Nothing too special.”

“What? Really. Aww, nuts”, the boy cursed, really disappointed of the news. “Nothing exiting ever happens here. Not fair.”

“Sorry, Donny. That’s how it is. But, at least it’s no longer haunting you. With good luck it might even leave and no longer bother anyone.”

“Well I wish it would had ended up being a sea monster. Maybe it would had eaten all the mirelurks away”, the Donny said, murmuring and whining to himself.

Piper saw that as a sign of getting the job done and he turned to Elizabeth, curious to know if she was ready to go back to Diamond City where they came from. The woman in blue vault-suit pants gave a light smile.

“You could had made it sound more interesting to him”, she said to Piper.

“Hey, I'm a reporter. I observe and then report the truth. Can’t change it, otherwise it would be lying”, the reporter said positively. Seeing a friend cheered up did lift up her mood as well. In fact, she couldn’t wait now to get home and report all this in her new paper. “Ghosts from the Sub” or “Under-covered Underwater” could be the new slogan.

A splash of water during still day broke the silence and caught the attention three humans and one canine. Far away the seaweed covered eye on a pole sunk down underwater. Then the water started to wave and shift, as if something was moving under the surface. The giant object first turned itself, then moved straight towards the open sea, the waves and shift on the water following behind. After a moment though the movements stopped as Yangtze submerged deep underwater, taking her noble captain with her towards their home, China.

“You think he'll get home?” Piper asked after watching over the exit of great submarine.

“Hopefully”, Elizabeth said blandly while turning her back to the sea and leaving. “And hopefully he stays there.”

Elizabeth was still bitter after the last encounter she had. May this sole survivor from the past never raise her gun at that innocent man again, but she could never leave her hate against the killers that brought her to this broken and wretched world. A world she has to live in fighting and surviving, not with words and reasoning, but with weapons and harshness.

May that man, or woman, or real monster, whoever the ones that caused all this, may they all rot and suffer for what they did two hundred and ten years ago.


End file.
